Improvement in lamps



l 3 SheetSL-ShetB. D. WHITEFORD.`

' Lamp. l "Patented May 21, 187s.

. INVENTQB: 4

' ldtarney.

N-PETERS. PHOTO-LITHUGRAFHER. wAsvuNmoN. o C.

-UNITED PATENT- OFFICE.

DAVID WHITEFORD, or CHICAGO, ILLINoIs.`

|M PRvov'EM ENT |N v LAM Ps.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N 0.f 203,971, dated May21, 1878; application filed l November 24,1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID WHITEFORD, of

the city of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Lamps, together withmeans for supplying the oil and for controlling the flow; and I herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionthereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which-Figure 1 is a perspective view of a chandelier embodying certain of myimprovements, and capable of being raised and lowered, Figs. 2,. 3, and4, enlarged detail views of the device by means of which the raising andlowering are effected; Fig. 5, a vertical section, showing the interiorconstruction of the lamp in Fig. 1; Fig. 6, a bottom view of theoil-fount of the lamp in Fig. 1; Fig. 7, a top view of the oil-cup;Figs. 8 and 9, detail views of the Ycut-olf; Fig. 10, the distributingapparatus,

v showing the siphondevices for conveying the oil from a commonreservoir to bracket-lamps at various levels; Fig. 1l, an` enlargedvertical section of the wick-cup, showing thefcutolf for excluding oilfrom'the same, when ldesired; Fig. 12, two modifications of the cutoffand filling device between they oil-fountain and cup in the lamp, Fig.1, or between the upper and lower compartments o f the oil-reservoir,Fig. 1 0, Fig. 13, atop view of the bracket-fountain, designed for alevel lower than that of the reservoir, and in which the terminus of thesiphon is providedwithy a float-valve to regulate the flow automatically5 Fig. 14:, a vertical section of the same; Fig. 15, a vertical sectionof the bracket-fountain and terminus of the supply-Siphon,:designed fora level equal to that of the reservoir.

My present invention relates chiefly to an amplification of theprinciples and mechanism involved in my invention in atmospheric lamps,for which Letters Patent vof the United States No. 188,199 were grantedto me March 27, 1877, and a reissue whereof is now pending, by whichamplification or improvement not only may the oil be carried from thefountain to the burners through bent or curved. arms, as in that patentprovided, but may also, by means of Siphon-tubes, be conveyed` from acommon reservoir, analogous in character and construction to thefountain and cup fountain itself is turned by means of an arm,

l in my said atmospheric lamp, or from such fountain and cup itself, toan indenite num ber of other lamps situated at any desired distance fromsuch source, thus obviating the need of filling at more than one point,the obl ject in using siphon in place of other tubes being both tosecure the convenience of having them in the top of a room, as along anupper corner and thence branching downward to the lamps, instead of uponor through the floor' and branching upward, and to permit the use of thepivoted bracket-burners,y which also constitute an important feature ofthis invention, and it relates, subordinately, to a device for raisingand lowering the reservoir for convenience of filling, and otherpurposes hereinafter named, or when applied to a chan delier, as in Fig.1, for graduating the distance of the light as Well, allas hereinaftermore fully set forth. f

In order that my present improvements maybe fully and readilyunderstood, a' description of some of the features set forth in myprevi# ous patentis necessary. This I shall give as brieiiy as possible,referring to Figs. 1, 5, 6, 7 8, 9, and 12, some of which figures aresimply different forms of device for controlling the ow of oil from thefountain to the burners by way of the cup or intermediate chamber 5 andall these latter differ more or less from those shown'j'in my. saidprevious patent. The difiiculty,n then, inr using bent or curved armswhen connected directly with the sealed founf tain is that atrap is`formed in theV bend or curve, which prevents air from passing into thefountain, and consequently arrests vthe supply of oil to the burner. Toremedy this difficulty, permitting the use of arms of any desired formor conguration, I combine with the fountain A a detachable cup, B,carrying the branching arms C lC; or, more strictly speaking, as to thepresent forms shown, the made detachable from the rest.

` Communication between the fountain and the intermediate chamber iscontrolled by means of a rotary valye or cock,D, having a centralpassage, and either operatedin the manner'described in my former patent,or elsej a, projecting out beyond the edge of the fountain..Thus,whenthe val ve is turned to a given degree, the orices in thevalve and seat coincide, and oil flows into the lower chamber or cupthrough the lower orifice, the flow continuing until the level of theoil in the cup or lower chamber rises above the top of this lowerorifice, when it ceases, and the fountain is sealed, and thenceforth oilwill ilow therefrom only in proportion as it is drawn from the lowerchamber B; and, the arms C being attached to the chamber B at pointsbelow the lower orifice in the valve l), the oil in the wickcups E ismaintained at very nearly a uniform level. This construction permits theuse of arms quite straight, or nearly so, as represented in Fig. 1, orcurved or bent to any desired degree, as indicated by the broken lines.

It is obvious that the fountain or upper chamber must be closedair-tight at every part save only at the aperture through which oilescapes into the lower chamber.

My former patent described means for replenishing the fountain fromabove, the removal of the stopper from the top serving to cut oifcommunication between the fountain and the cup or lower chamber.

The drawings accompanying the present specification show three differentdevices for eifectin g substantially the same results with but a singleopening, the first of these being the one involving the arm a, beforereferred to, or its equivalent. It operates as follows:

Uponthe valveD are fburlugs-two,dd,near the top, and two others, d d',near the bottom, in line with the first. At the base of the fountain,and surrounding thevalve-seat, is aflanged collar, e, slotted onopposite sides to permit the entrance of the lugs cl d, and at thebottom of the chamber B, upon the inside of the same,

is a seat for the base of the valve D, consisting of a second dan gedcollar, e', with slots on opposite sides for the reception of the lugs dd. These collars may be of like configuration, though not so shown inthe drawing; and they are so secured in their separate positions thatwhen the fountain A is in placeA the slots in the upper and lowercollars will not be vertically in line, as are the lugs, but aboutoneeighth of a circumference or so from such line, whereby, when thevalve is so turned as to bring the lugs d' d into the vertical slots inthe lower collar, so that the valve may be disengaged at its base, theupper lugs d will still be held 'by the flange of the upper collar.Moreover, the orifice in the upper part of the valve is directly aboveone of the lugs d but the orifice in the seat is not in line with eitherof the slots in the collar, but above a point about midway between thetwo, measured on the circumference. Thus, when the two orices co'incide, permitting the oil to ow into the chamber B, the fountain A isnecessarily firmly attached to the said chamber B; and when the lugs dare (bythe turning of the arm a) brought into the vertical slots of thelower collar, permitting the removal of the fountain, the valve isnecessarily sealed, and the lugs d still held by the flange of the uppercollar.

t Therefore, when it becomes necessary to replenish the fountain,the armor handle a is first turned about one-eighth of the way around, or untilit is stopped by the contact of theklugs d with the sides of the slots,or any other stop that may be provided, when the valve is shut and thelugs d disengaged. The fountain A is then lifted off (of course carryingthe valve with it) and inverted. The handle a is then turned stillfarther, disengaging the lugs d from the flanges of the collar e bybringing them into the slots, and the valve withdrawn.

` After filling the fountain the valve is reinserted, the fountainreplaced in position, and communication between the chambers A and Breestablished, all by the reversal of the preceding operation. It willbe seen from the foregoing description that this valve device is, in alimited sense, automatic in its operation, for, in order that the lugs dmay be brought into the slots, so as to permit the removal of thefountain, the valve is necessarily turned off or shut; and, moreover,the handle a cannot be turnedsufciently to allow the valve to bedisengaged at the top until it has iirst been disengaged at the bottomby lifting off the fountain. This avoids all possibility of, an escapeof oil from the upper chamber at the wrong time.

Similar automatic effects are produced by one ofthe modifications shownin Fig. 12, as follows: The key or handle a' has a flattened shank, j'.In the edge of the chamber B is a slot, g, so narrow at the top as onlyto admit the shank f egdewise,but wide enough below to allow the key tobe turned flat, in the manner indicated by the dotted lines. The valveis shut when the flattened part (and likewise the ring) is vertical, andopen when it is horizontal. Therefore, when it becomes necessary toreplenish the fountain, the ring is first turned to a vertical position,which renders it disengageable, and atthe same time shuts the valve. Thefountain is then lifted off and inverted as before, the handle swunground until the lugs d reach the slots in the collar e, as indicated bythe second dotted lines, when they may bring up against a suitable stop,the plug withdrawn, the fountain lled, and then the whole operationreversed. f

The second form (shown in Fig. 12, and shown also in Fig. 10) is notautomatic in its action, but may yet answer sufficiently well for largereservoirs. It is simply a detachable faucet, P, with an elongatedspout, S, at the side of the fountain near the bottom. `When it becomesnecessary to refill, the key a. is turned so as to shut off the ilow,the fountain removed and turned on its side with the faucet upward, thelatter twisted round until the lugs d" come into the slots in thecollarc, and then the whole withdrawn. Itis obvious, however, that, ifdesired, a slotted guard may be placed over the key in such manner thatthe fountain can be removed only when the fiow is shut 0E.

Figs. 10, 13, 14, and 15 represent the device maori" 'v' wherebytheoil'isdistributed' generally from a single reservoir, by'means ofSiphon-tubes, to anydesired number of burners, and also, if necessary,conveyed from one lamp to another; and the purpose instead of the-ordinary tubes designed simply to carry out the principle ofhydrostatic pressure, is, as hereinbefore stated, twofold-first, in`order that the saidtubes may run along the upper part ofthe room7 out ofthe way, and, secondly, in order to permit. the use of .the swinging' orpivoted y'bracket burners, the construction-of which will hereinafter bede- Iii these gures, A'. lis the supply-fountain, B the intermediatechamber, and E E E the siphon. Each siphon may-be curved Aupward, asshown,lat'the end which dipsv into the chamber B, and also at theopposite end, where it dips into ay bracket-cup, either on the samelevel with the chamber B or on a lower level. These bends or curves formtraps h h, which serve toprevent the admission of air to the pipes afterit has oncebeen exhausted and the oil passed through, even though thelevel of the oil in the chamber. B or the bracketcup fall below themouth of the tube.

I do not, however, limit myself to. the siphons formed with these traps.If desired, such a trap may be employed at only one instead of at bothends 5 or the traps may be wholly dispensed with without departing fromthe spirit of my invention.

When the siphon supplies a cup, F, at a level below that of the chamberB it becomes necessary to employ the self-acting float-valve G, in orderto cut off the ow when the oil has reached a certain level. Whendesired, the l'loW may be excluded absolutelyfrom the lower bracketcupsF by meansof the cocks 'i z', This would be done to prevent loss byevap. eration where the lamps are not in frequent use.

In order that the bracket-burner may be swung from side to side it isconstructed as follows: The stem j of the cup F is vhollow for a shortdistance down, forming a recess, 7c, which the oil enters through aholein the bottom of the cup, flowing to the wick-cup'through the pipe l.The stem j is pivoted vertically into the bracket-arm H, so that thepipe Zmay be readily turned from side to side, the cup F turning freelywith it. It will be seen that this could not be accomplished without thethe employment of Siphon-tubes of some form or other, (except where thefountain is immediately above the cup, operating as in Fig. 1,) since itis necessary that the supply-pipe enter the cup F from above and bewholly disconnected from it.

The raising and lowering device serves several purposes, as willhereinafter be explained, and is constructed as follows: I is a shaft,having two longitudinal grooves, m, on opposite sides, and short branchrecesses n n, inclining slightly downward from the grooves m, oncorresponding sides of the saine. These of employing these siphons,v

recessses may be formed asA close vtogether as desiredalong the lengthof the shaft I, and

are, of course, formed only along one side of each groove m.

J is a sleeve, within which the shaft I slides;

and o o are lugs on its inner surface, adapted to slide in the grooves mand enter the y recesses n. Thus lthe fountain may be readily raised orlowered to any desired level, it being for this purpose only necessaryslightly to lift and turn it, so as to bring the lugs out of therecesses n and into the grooves m, slide it up or down, as requirementshall dictate, and then turn it back, bringing -the lugs into otherrecesses.

Not only does this arrangement afford facilities for filling, (and, whenapplied to a chandelier, also for graduating the distance of the light,)but it also affords a simple and spontaneous means for graduating theheight of the oil in those cups F which are on an equal level with thechamber B of the reservoir 5 for it is obvious that the surface of theoil in these cups must always be in the same plane with the surface ofthat in the chamber B', wherefore, (the cups F and the siphons. beingfixed',)'V

if the reservoir is llowered and raised within certain narrow limits,the oil will correspondinglyrise and fall in the cups F. This is turnedto valuable account in the way of limited loss by evaporation, by havingthe termini of the siphons sit 10W in the eups, a'nd, when-not in use,lowering the reservoir by means ofthe device above described, when theoil in each cup must, of cou-rse, recede to a level with the mouth oftheV trap, when a trap is employed. Thus, if not used fora considerabletime, the quantity so lost islimited and ascertained. n Y

Itmay, in vsome cases, become desirable to have other lamps supplied bymeans of a siphon from a hanging lamp, such as is represented in Fig. l,or to have such a lainp without a fountain, itself supplied. by means ota siphon leading from a reservoir, while yet, 1n either event,preserving its capability of being raised and lowered. This may readilybe accomplished as follows: If the lamp is without afountain of its own,and is to be supplied from elsewhere, (when it is analogous to thebracket-lamps already'described,) the supplypipe may extend down theside of the sliding device, terminating at 'a point where it will dipinto the cup when the latter is at its highest level, and provided, asin the case of those which enter the lower bracket-cups, with a cock.Before lowering the lamp the cock is turned off, thus stopping the ow,and as soon as the supply in the cup shows signs of failing, the wholemay be raised, replenished, and again lowered. Substantially the sameidea is carried out in the first case named above, viz., where the lampis itself the reservoir; but here the end of the siphon, instead ofentering the cup from the top direct, enters through a spout, p,projecting from the side of the cup. The fountain-lamp being lowered,

the supply is, of course, here cut off from the branch lamps; but atproper intervals they may be simultaneously replenished by raising thefountain-lamp for a brief period to the requisite level.

It often becomes desirable to cut oi the supply from the wick-cups Kseparately. For this purpose I employ the cock q, in the end of thesupply-pipe, and operated by means of the handle r, Fig. 11, whereby thedrip, if there be any, falls within the cup instead of upon the ioor.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. In an atmospheric lamp or oil-reservoir,

l the device for preventing the flow of oil from the fountain to theintermediate chamber or cup during the process of lling, and also forholding the said fountain and cup together when communication has beenestablished between them, consisting of a connecting-valve operated by akey, handle, or any equivalent means, and detachable from both thefountain and cup, but not from both simultaneously, and detachable fromthe cup, moreover, only when, by the turning of the said key or otheragent, the valve has been shut and the flow stopped, and from thefountain only after it has been lifted away from the cup, substantiallyas specified. p

2. The combination consisting of the valve D, provided with the lugs d dand d',d, slotted and flanged collars e and e', and handle a,constructed and arranged to operate substantially as described, for thepurpose set forth.

3. The oil-distributing device consisting of the combination of thefollowing elements, viz: the upper chamber A', lower chamber B', thesaid two chambers communicating in the manner described, andSiphon-tubes E, leading from the said lower chamber B' to cups F,substantially as set forth and shown.

4. In'combination with the upper chamber A' and lower chamber B',communicating in the manner described, the Siphon-tubes E, provided,when conveying oil to cups F at a lower level than the chamber B', eachwith a iioatvalve, G, adapted automatically to prevent the rising of theoil above a given height within such cups F, substantially as described.

5. The combinationof an upper chamber, A', and lower chamber B',communicating as described, and Siphon-tubes E, leading from said lowerchamber to cups F, and providedat their extremities with traps h,substantially as described, for the purpose set forth.

6. An atmospheric bracket-lamp, in which the intermediate chamber or cupturns on a hinge or pivot, whereby the burner may be swung from side toside, as set forth.

7 The bracket device, consisting of the-cup F, having the partly-hollowstem j, the latter pivoted to the fixed arm H, in combination with thetube l, whereby the burner may be turned or moved from side to side,substantially as described.

8. The device consisting of the sleeve J, provided on its inner surfacewith the lugs o o, in combination with the shaft I, having thelongitudinal grooves fm and branch recesses a, constructed and arrangedto operate substantially as described, by means of which the reservoiris raised and lowered and the height of the oil within the cups I1"regulated, as set forth. l

DAVID wHrrEFoRD.

In presence of- J oHN H. BYRNE, JOHN A. STEEN.

